Painting the Arno River, Florence, Italy Painting

I envision my oil paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and mixed media as I have embraced my writings as a world-class journalist: each piece is an adventure of striking dramatic impression. I fashion understandable images that combine realistic, representational, abstract, and Pop Art approaches. Within this framework, I quest for something fresh in subject matter and presentation. When conceptualizing, I ask: "What might make the work memorable? Can a story be told? What might provoke conversation?" Some responses: vivid rich colors and vibrating color contrasts (as inspired by Matisse and Van Gogh), chiaroscuro style (grazie to Da Vinci and Caravaggio), mirrored effects, humorous animal narratives (motivated by Matisse again), reverential animal narratives (divined from Chauvet and Lascaux cave art), comical concepts (thank you Pop Art), universal goddess imagery, and strong palette knife marks, energetic brush strokes, and textured effects using impasto and stucco to affect a permanent look and feel of landscape subjects, especially stone and rock. Born and raised in Chicago and currently living in San Diego after 30 years in Los Angeles, I am also a traveling artist inspired to plein air paint the romantic Renaissance skyline and gardens of Florence, Italy; the kaleidoscopic mesas of Abiquiu, New Mexico; and the sexual and sensual lines and shapes of the Death Valley dunes in California.